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‘Indescribable’: Rene Diaz Breaks Through With First Winner At Gulfstream

Apprentice jockey Rene Diaz broke through to notch his first career win Thursday at Gulfstream Park after guiding Jessica ($14) to a three-length victory in the afternoon's third race.

The 21-year-old jockey achieved the ever-important milestone in front-running fashion aboard the Michael Yates-trained 5-year-old mare, capturing a seven-furlong sprint for $12,500 filly and mare claimers.

“It feels amazing. It felt like the wire was getting further and further away from me,” Diaz said. “Thank God, my parents and everyone that supported me. I'm grateful for the connections, also — Mr. Yates, Shadybrook Farm. It's just amazing, an amazing feeling. Indescribable.”

Diaz, who grew up in South Florida and played high school soccer with fellow Gulfstream jockey Romero Maragh, worked his way up the ladder on the South Florida backstretches.

“I was just freelancing in the backstretch, working for everybody and helping everyone out. Picking up things little by little, learning little by little,” he said. “It's been a long three years of practicing until I decided this was my year to start. So much has happened due to the coronavirus. I'm just happy to be here and blessed.”

Diaz, who won his first race on his 18th career mount, expressed gratitude to the trainers who helped him realize his dream of becoming a jockey.

“I first started in the shedrow, shedrowing horses for [trainer] Aubrey Maragh. He gave me a huge chance. He was a big support. Also, [trainer] Monica McGoey was a big support. She's really the person that let me get my gate card and gave me a whole bunch of horses to breeze,” Diaz said. “Then I started expanding my horizons with [trainers] Joe Orseno, Happy Alter, and Louis Roussel, where I learned a lot.”

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‘I Don’t Have The Right Words To Describe It’: Jockey Alice Beckman Celebrates First Winner At Turfway Park

In her first race as a licensed jockey on March 20 at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., Alice Beckman finished second by a half-length. Back in the irons five days later, the end result saw the exact same margin between the first and second-place finishers: a half-length. This time, however, Beckman came out on the winning side of the wire.

“Going into it I thought the horse had a chance, so I tried to mentally prepare myself,” Beckman explained. “But you just can't prepare yourself for that feeling. It was so fun, and I don't have the right words to describe it, really.”

Both horses, Crown the Prince (1st on March 25) and So Caught Up In U (2nd on March 20), are trained by Beckman's boyfriend of the past several years, Keith Kinmon. The two-person team operates a training, breaking, and breeding business about 45 minutes away from Turfway in Northern Kentucky, doing all the work themselves on anywhere from 20 to 30 horses at a time.

“He's been so supportive of me wanting to ride races,” said Beckman, 28.

Beckman acknowledges that she's a bit later to the game of race-riding than most of her peers, despite growing up around horses in Ohio.

“It's always kind of been in the back of my mind, that I want to be a jockey,” she said. “I remember in kindergarten, the teacher had us write down what we wanted to be when we grew up. I wrote down three choices: a trick rider in the circus, a cowgirl, or a jockey.

“I'd always been drawn to the racetrack, so when my college plans to go to vet school weren't really working out like I'd hoped, I made a new plan. My advisor was so great, he asked me, 'Taking away all the expectations of others, what's your dream job? What do you want to do every day?' The answer was simple: be a jockey.”

That advisor got Beckman into the Kentucky Equine Management Internship Program, and she spent several years working for Juddmonte Farm before heading to Payson Park in Florida to work with young racehorses. She loved the high-paced atmosphere of the racetrack, and so when she moved home to Ohio, Beckman started freelance exercising full time.

Beckman met Kinmon at Belterra Park in Cincinnati when he asked her to gallop a few horses one day. They've been inseparable ever since, working overtime to take care of their eight horses at Turfway and another 15-20 at the farm. Beckman couldn't have been more thrilled that her first win as a jockey came on a horse he both owns and trains.

“Have owned a few racehorses myself, it's always fun to be in the winner's circle,” said Beckman. “But when it was him and me in there, and I was on top of the horse, it was a whole different level.”

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Updated: ‘Integrity Issue’ Behind 30-Day Suspension Of Eclipse Award-Winning Apprentice

Eclipse Award-winning apprentice jockey Alexander Crispin has been suspended for 30 days and fined $1,000 for carrying the wrong weight during a race at Laurel Park in Maryland, the Daily Racing Form reported Tuesday.

On Wednesday, DRF reported the circumstances surrounding the ruling. Maryland stewards had heard rumors about Crispin allegedly riding under weight.

The race in question is the ninth on Jan. 16, 2021, in which Alpha Queue finished third. The horse, trained by Lacey Gaudet, was disqualified, and the Equibase chart notes that it “carried wrong weight.” Crispin's listed weight in the chart, presumably the weight at which he was supposed to ride Alpha Queue, was 115 pounds.

Video evidence showed that Crispin weighed in at 115 before the race, but 110 afterward.

According to the condition book, Crispin can ride at as low as 108 pounds.

Maryland rules require disqualification if the jockey rides at least one pound below listed weight, while overweights may be penalized with warnings.

“We felt, as a group, that it was an integrity issue, and it needed to be addressed,” chief state steward Adam Campola told drf.com. “We wanted to make sure something like this doesn't happen again.”

Two stewards outside of Maryland, commenting without specific knowledge of Crispin's case, told the Daily Racing Form that the fine and suspension suggest Crispin may have deliberately falsified his weight, or knew that he was not riding under the assigned weight.

Eclipse Finalist Alexander Crispin Continues Strong Maryland Tradition Of Apprentice Riders

Jockey Alexander Crispin is one of three finalists for the Eclipse Award as outstanding apprentice of 2020. The winners in 17 equine and human categories will be announced during a virtual ceremony starting at 8 p.m. Thursday.

Maryland-based riders have captured 11 of the 46 Eclipse Awards as champion apprentice, the most recent being Weston Hamilton in 2018. Other winners are Chris McCarron (1974), Ronnie Franklin (1978), Alberto Delgado (1982), Allen Stacy (1986), Kent Desormeaux (1987), Mike Luzzi (1989), Mark Johnston (1990), Jeremy Rose (2001), Ryan Fogelsonger (2002) and Victor Carrasco (2013). Hamilton and Carrasco continue to be based in Maryland.

Maryland Jockey Club host and analyst Naomi Tukker had a chance to talk to Crispin about his 2020 season and what it would be like to win the Eclipse Award.

Crispin graduated from Puerto Rico's famed Escuela Vocacional Hipica in December 2019 and made his pro debut last Jan. 1 at Hipodromo Camarero. After coming to the U.S. late last winter, Cripsin was fifth in his mainland debut aboard Time Marches On March 7, 2020 at Turfway Park.

He continued to ride in the Midwest, picking up his first win March 12, 2020 on Thorpe d'Oro at Turfway, until moving his tack to Delaware Park for the summer. Crispin finished the Delaware meet as its leading apprentice, ranking second overall with 58 wins and fourth with more than $1.3 million in purse earnings.

Crispin arrived in Maryland in late October, two weeks into Laurel Park's fall meet, and wound up leading all apprentice riders and ranking third overall with 29 wins while banking $725,920 in purses earned.

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